Noting that several e-mail reflectors and other ham news outlets have said that over 10,000 CW logs were sent in for the CQ WW DX Contest, I have to agree with K3NG — it’s time to Save Phone!
After all, K3NG waxes:
…we don’t test for phone operating skill anymore. Today’s amateurs are lazy. They’re not going to try phone operation unless you force them to do it. You need to test for it so they get proficient at it and want to use it. Phone operation always works; everyone has mouths and can speak.
For those of you new to ham radio, these were the arguments against getting rid of testing for CW for licenses several years ago. And shows that testing for modes doesn’t necessarily mean the death of a mode. On the contrary, now that phone is in a cyclical decline, it is more than hilarious to see some competition between phone and CW.
Just think, between CW and digital modes, we might need more of that SSB spectrum…
Scot, thanks for the gem! Ha, I love it! I forgot if I was in that or the WPX CW, but I am glad I sent my log in for the one I did. Thanks for the K3NG link, what a hoot! We have FISTS, will the SSB folks create MOUTHS ? Fair weather ops, conditions are poor, gee SSB isn’t so good now. they go find other hobbies. Meanwhile CW is going strong. Last week on a portable op I made a 5 watt CW QSO to a guy in New York. My first NY QRP! I feel guity now. I will have to enter an SSB contest under my own club name, the Underachievers Contest Club. Sometimes you only feel like making a few QSOs. Thanks Scot!!
Sometimes it’s the small few that stands out. The qrp or qrpp signal and qso made will be remembered more than the lighthouse qsos with armchair copy and all the buds standing around patting you on the back for pulling it through. When you pull a tough one through, that’s the one you’re proud of. CW FOREVER…. and thanks for the article too, Scott.
73
Michael G/KA5EXI
you ham girls make me sleepy, we all know the ssb is and always be king, also why is it that you girls end up using ssb????